1. Field of the Invention
This relates in general to certain new and useful improvements in intermodal vehicle haulers, and more particularly, to intermodal vehicle haulers constructed substantially of reinforced plastic composite materials and which are strong in performance, light in weight and provide a safe and environmentally protected compartment for storage of automotive vehicles.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Intermodal transport containers are highly effective for transporting of freight across continents via ocean going vessels and on land via railroad cars, particularly railroad flatbed cars and then to a particular destination by means of highway truck transport. In this way, the freight which is moved in the container is not unloaded between the source and the final destination. Intermodal transport containers are particularly effective where the freight being carried is not subject to environmental damage such as dust or corrosion damage and where the contents are not particularly attractive to thievery.
Heretofore, there have not been any intermodal vehicle haulers which are effective for use in the transporting of automotive vehicles, such as passenger automobiles. When the automobiles are manufactured or assembled on one continent and have a sales market destination on another continent, they must be loaded at a factory site onto railroad cars specifically designed for the movement of automotive vehicles and then transported to a loading site for shipment on an ocean going vessel. At this point, the automobiles must then be physically and individually driven off of these special railroad cars, which have a rack design with stacked tiers of platforms, and then onto a loading dock. The automobiles may then be driven from the loading dock up a ramp and onto an ocean going vessel or loaded by crane into a hold of an ocean going vessel.
When the automobiles reach the destination continent, they must then be unloaded from the ocean going vessel onto another storage dock where they are then destined for transport to a particular city. The automobiles are again individually driven onto a railroad car transported to a destination city. At this point, they are thus unloaded from the railroad car and loaded onto a highway or so-called "over the road" truck for transport to a particular local destination such as an automobile dealers sales lot. Again, at the particular specific destination, such as an automobile dealer sales lot, the automotive vehicles are again unloaded from the highway truck and stored at a storage location.
The costs involved in merely moving the vehicles from a factory site on one continent to a dealer's showroom on a second continent are quite considerable. It can be recognized that considerable manual intervention is required for purposes of loading and unloading automotive vehicles from on type of transport to another. In this process and due to the vast number of vehicles which must be loaded and unloaded, vehicle damage often results, thereby adding repair costs to the overall costs of manufacture and transport of the automotive vehicles.
Substantial environmental damage which often results to the transported automotive vehicles. When the vehicles are stored on ocean going vessels, the salt water environment not only initiates corrosion, particularly where there is a slight scratch in the paint or primer of the vehicle, but it also has a tendency to foul portions of the operating mechanism of the vehicles, if the vehicles are stored on the ship for any significant period of time. Accordingly, the ocean going ship or vessel must leave the shipping port and arrive almost directly at the destination port. This need for dispatch interferes with routing of other freight which may be carried on the ocean going vessel.
Transport by rail introduces a second set of problems which again materially adds to the cost of transport and hence, the overall price of an automotive vehicle. In many cases, where the vehicles are loaded onto railroad car haulers for inter-country movement, persons desiring to immigrate from one country to another will often break into and hide in the vehicle. Since customs agents at a border checkpoint do not have the facilities or time to examine every automotive vehicle transported on a railroad car, ingress into a particular country is relatively easy. In addition, the automobile serves as a convenient living quarters during the transport time and the occupant often damages the interiors of the vehicles.
One of the significant problems which arises in the transport of automotive vehicles, is the fact that the metal structure of the railroad cars rust and the rust flakes and deposits on the automotive vehicle. Ground dust which may include some metal particles or rust flakes is also spewed up by movement of the railroad cars and further deposits on the automotive vehicle. The deposited rust flakes and dust, cannot be merely washed from the vehicle and the special cleaning techniques which are required can often add as much as several hundred dollars per automotive vehicle for cleaning alone.
There have been several proposed intermodal vehicle haulers for use in transporting automotive vehicles. However, heretofore, all proposed intermodal vehicle haulers were to be constructed of metals, such as steel. This would materially and inevitably introduce a specific set of additional problems peculiar to the use of steel or other metal for any type of intermodal container. In this case, the flaking rust particles and spewed up dust would still result and prove to be an additional damage problem. Secondly, the weight of steel intermodal vehicle haulers would be quite substantial thereby resulting in increased shipping costs and overall costs to the vehicle. Further, the metal intermodal vehicle hauler would add to the vibration problem created by transport of the automotive vehicles on a railroad car hauler or on a truck transport. In many cases, the vibration can be excessive and result in damage to the components of the automotive vehicle. Thus, the metal intermodal vehicle haulers heretofore proposed would be relatively ineffective of relatively short life and result in high maintenance cost.
Exemplary of some of the intermodal vehicle haulers for automotive vehicles which have been proposed are those in U.S. Pat. No. 4,860,911, dated Aug. 29, 1989 to John L. Jones, Sr., U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,411, dated Jun. 6, 1989 to J. Leslie Jones, U.S. Pat. No. 4,144,984, dated Mar. 20, 1979 to George D. Saunders and U.S. Pat. No. 4,360,115, dated Nov. 23, 1982 to George D. Saunders.
The vehicle haulers described in these patents would inherently suffer from the disadvantages mentioned above. In addition, the vehicle haulers described in these patents present additional problems, such as the loading and unloading of automotive vehicles. Due to the fact that these proposed metal transport containers would necessarily have very dark interior compartments, the drivers of the automotive vehicles who are loading or unloading the vehicles must exercise due care to preclude the causing of damage to both the vehicle hauler and the automotive vehicle when driving the vehicle into and out of the container.
After the driver of the vehicle parks the vehicle in the intermodal container, it is necessary for the driver to exit from the vehicle in a relatively confined space without banging the door edge of the vehicle into the side wall of the auto hauling container. Thereafter, in this very dark environment, the driver must find the chalks for the vehicle wheels and place the chalks behind the rear wheels and in front of the front wheels. In some cases, it is necessary to tie-down the vehicles to the container itself. Not only does this present an attendant danger to the driver working in this relatively dark environment, but it also materially slows his or her ability to load or unload a vehicle, thereby resulting in substantially increased labor costs.
It would be impractical and highly costly to temporarily light the interior of these containers merely for purposes of loading and unloading of automotive vehicles. Thus, the metal intermodal vehicle containers for transporting of automotive vehicles, heretofore proposed would not be effective and would not be widely used, if at all.
The concept of a reinforced plastic composite container for hauling of automobiles was disclosed in the April, 1990 Edition of the Railway Age Magazine. However, this auto hauling container referred as part of a secured modular automotive rail transport system was not described except only in a very broad concept and did not constitute an operable structure from the description as set forth in this Railway Age Article.
There has been a clear and well-recognized need for an intermodal vehicle hauler which will not suffer from the numerous problems mentioned above. This need includes that of an intermodal vehicle hauler which can be securely sealed to prevent theft, dust invasion and water penetration and unauthorized manual entry and to prevent other environmental damages. Further, there has been a need for an automotive vehicle hauler which will permit at least minimum light, such as daylight exposure to the interior for purposes of facilitating the loading and unloading of vehicles into and from the container. There has also been a need for some intermodal vehicle hauler which can eliminate undesirable vibration zones which damage components of the vehicle hauled and thereby reduce the often severe effects of vibrational damage resulting from travel on railroad cars or automotive vehicle transporting trucks, by using materials which have good stiffness characteristics and good vibration damping characteristics.